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Writers: Dana, Eimi
Date Posted: 4th August 2007

Characters: Nialyn, Birigundi
Description: Birigundi comes to a decision
Location: Dragonsfall Weyr
Date: month 4, day 16 of Turn 4

Birigundi

Birigundi slipped into Nia's weyr. He smiled when he noticed she was sound asleep on the sofa while Lyndi lay on a blanket on the floor, trying to reach for the colorful dangling toys that hung just low enough for her to reach. Stretching out beside his little girl, he leaned down to kiss her head softly. "And just what kind of trouble have you been today to wear your mother out so, hmmm?" He grinned as she turned her attention to his nose and chin, finding her papa's face a much more interesting plaything than the toys carefully laid out for her.

Lyndi curled her hand against his chin, wrinkling her nose in curiosity as her fingers brushed against the faint scratchiness of a day's worth of stubble. Kicking her small feet, she rubbed her hand over and over in the same spot, blue eyes as wide as ever as she looked up at Birigundi. Then her small face bloomed into a wide smile and she laughed. Loudly.

Nialyn's only response to her baby's amusement was to snuggle even further into the sofa's pillows. Even asleep she knew the difference between a wail of happiness and a wail of sadness, and if Lyndi was laughing then everything was all right... Sighing, she let herself drift down deep into her dreams again.

Birigundi smiled up at her as he watched her shift positions. Shards she was beautiful when she slept. His pleasant thoughts were interrupted by a soft knock on the door.

"Hi, Biri," a young candidate smiled when his opened the door. "Weyrlingmaster T'mahl would like to see you right away in his office."

Sparing a glance over his shoulder, Birigundi frowned in slight annoyance.
What could he want _now_? "All right, tell him I'll be right there." Well, he shouldn't just leave his daughter unattended. Not that she could cause too much trouble, but still... Oh well, T'mahl would just have to understand.

"Come on, baby girl. Let's let your mother sleep, eh?" This shouldn't take long. And if it seemed like it was going to, well, he'd have the perfect excuse to leave early!

~~~

It had been far too silent for far too long. Too quiet... No toys clanked together, no gurgling laughs of happiness or shrieks of frustration rang throughout her weyr, and the uneasiness of Nialyn's unconscious seeped into her dreams, whispering anxiously, and she started awake, blue eyes flying open. With her heart in her mouth, she bolted upright, eyes scanning frantically for Lyndi. Oh shards and shells, where was she?!

"Lyndi? Come on, lovey, where are you?" Nialyn crawled on her hands and knees, checking beneath the furniture, trying to calm the panic rising in her. Then her eyes darted towards the door. Had someone come in? No, surely she would have heard the door open...

The panic was just about to overtake her when Birigundi quietly opened the door and peeked in. "Ah, you're awake," he grinned, bouncing Lyndi on his shoulder. "Did you sleep well?"

"Lyndi!" She threw herself at them both, ignoring the shocked look on Birigundi's face and taking her daughter in her arms. "How long--when did you--shards and shells, Biri!" Her relief quickly turned into rebuke. "Don't ever take her again without telling me! Faranth, my heart almost stopped..." Taking in a deep breath, she buried her nose in Lyndi's downy hair.

"Well, I was called to the Weyrlingmaster's office, and you were sleeping..." Shards, what did _he_ do?

Slowly exhaling, she opened her eyes to glance up at him. "You still should've told me, Biri. I don't care if you wake me up, but I need to know." Her smile was a little shaky. "Mother's instincts, you know?"

"Yeah, but I wasn't gone that long..." It wasn't like she'd be with anyone _else_. So much for trying to help!

"I know, Biri." She was calm enough now to realize that had been his intention. Leaning over she pressed a kiss to his lips, shoving away the rest of her anxiety. Everything was all right now. "But tell me, okay?"

"All right," he shrugged, trying to act like it didn't really matter.
**Whatever...**

Gesturing him inside, she took Lyndi over to her blanket on the floor and set her down on it. "So why did the Weyrlingmaster call you in?" She looked over her shoulder at him. "You're not in trouble, are you?"

Of course she'd think that, he thought sourly. "No, some of the older Candidates are being allowed to Stand other Hatchings at other Weyrs. He wanted to know if I would be going to Dolphin Cove."

Nialyn slowly sank onto the couch, blue eyes wide in sudden shock. Dolphin Cove? Would he leave her? Lyndi? No. He couldn't. Wouldn't. "What did you say to him?"

He shrugged a shoulder, his ego still stinging from the way she admonished him. "Well, you know, he wanted me to think about it. After all there hasn't been a Hatching here for a long time and who knows when the next one would be. And I only have a couple more Turns left to Stand..."

**So what?** she wanted to ask. The thought of him Impressing chilled her to the core. And the thought of him Impressing at another Weyr...that was even worse. But he couldn't leave. Looking away, she fiddled with the blanket in her lap. "I know it's important to you."

"It seems there's also been a gold rising at River Bluff so we might be offered a chance to Stand there as well." Birigundi looked at her out of the corner of his eye. Well, even if she didn't really want his help, at least she seemed to care about the fact that he could leave the Weyr forever.

Slowly her jaw tightened, but she kept her eyes focused on the pattern woven into the throw...and kept tracing a section of it over and over with her fingertip. It was better than looking up into his face.

Birigundi watched her rhythmic motions. It gave him a childish, smug satisfaction to see her upset at the thought that he might go. He even felt a slight vindication after the way she shot down his attempts to help without so much as a word of appreciation. Seems she appreciated him more now that there was the possibility that he might not stay hanging over her head.

As the silence stretched between them, Nialyn thought of Biri as he was now, and Biri if he left Dragonsfall. Her imagination went wild with countless things that could happen. She could see him sliding from a dragon's neck into Dolphin Cove's gorgeous Weyrbowl. Not that she'd ever been to Dolphin Cove before, but she'd heard enough stories and descriptions to know that it was tropical and beautiful. She could see him loving it there, laughing as he ate a redfruit by the shore, juices dribbling from his chin as he leaned back into the sand. She could see girls--_new_ girls--surrounding him, waiting for their turn to take a bite out of the new Candidate. She could see him kneeling in the hot Sands in a Candidate's white tunic, arms surrounding a bronze's--or was it a brown's?--neck, eyes shining in rapture. Months would pass. He would grow with his dragon, and she would grow with Lyndi, alone. He would miss Lyndi's first steps. Her first words. She would forget him, just like he would forget them. But Nialyn would remember.

A tremor ran down her spine at the thought of being alone, and she shook herself from the visions to look up at him. "I don't want you to leave."

He turned his head to look down in her blue eyes, suddenly filled with concern and worry, perhaps even a little fear at the thought of him leaving Dragonsfall. Birigundi looked into her eyes and saw she was feeling exactly how he hoped she'd feel at the thought of him going to far away. But while it was good to know she really did care whether he stayed or left, he felt a sudden stab of guilt for making her worry that way. He had been acting so immature trying to punish her for not appreciating him the way he thought she aught to. She _did_ appreciate him. She cared about him. He had known that before. He was being such an ass making her prove it that way just to serve his own wounded pride.

"I know, Nia," he said softly, reaching out for her hand. "And I would never leave you and Lyndi. I told T'mahl no."

Relief--and something else she couldn't name--swept through her. **Thank Faranth.** Tightening her fingers around his, she gazed up at him, allowing her eyes to express what her words couldn't.

Birigundi reached up to gently pull her lips to his tenderly and longingly, hoping that he could convey with his kiss what he could not yet put into words - that nowhere on Pern would ever be truly be home without her.

Last updated on the August 5th 2007

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